Dee sat up and rebooted her morning scan programs. She noticed Gizzy standing at the bathroom sink, checking her fangs.
“So… We’re still waking up in the same room?” Dee asked, coldly.
“I told you, I was sorry. We’re not married, we’re not engaged, we had sex and we shared some feelings. That’s what people do before they decide if they want to be together long term. I should have communicated better, or talked to you first, but I forgot you’re not a human who grew up around them. We had a misunderstanding, and I failed to explain things properly. I’m sorry.”
“So you gonna fuck him again and do an average to see who you wanna be with long term, or are we just gonna have to go to court and get custody days on the calendar? I get you weekdays and holidays?” she asked as Gizzy sighed in annoyance.
“You don’t understand. You may be intelligent and old but you’re not socially experienced. You’re immature when it comes to some things, to no fault of your own.”
“But I’m convenient, because there’s nobody else on the crew like you. Well, except now that there’s another multi-thousand year old more mature organic predator warrior thing. Now there’s options. I mean, that’s logical. That's why they make sexbots. When you got nobody else to love or fuck, or clean your ship, or feed off of… you get a Deebot and we’ll get you by until something better comes along, right? Dee class fuckbots, the toaster with tits that's good enough to get you by for a while. We should put that on the commercials. It’s catchy.”
“You’re not a damn sex drone maid anymore. Have some self respect instead of self pity. We connected, we made sense, we had fun. That’s what people do together. And if you get to a point where you’re convinced it’s going to last, you commit and make promises and keep them. But people date around. They have one nighters, they experiment, they regret it sometimes, and sometimes, two people weren’t on the same page and nobody spoke up. I could have asked you if we were exclusive, and you could have asked me. But you didn’t know any better and I forgot you didn’t. So I fucked up. I made assumptions, and I wish I had realized the problem. So… are you going to forgive me for breaking an unspoken rule I forgot to bring up, or are you going to hate me for it and act like I did this intentionally?”
“I’m not mad that you did it, I’m worried that you have options and are ready to start trying them out. I’m concerned that I’m not enough and you’re still looking for better fitting options.”
“You wanna fuck him? Go fuck him. He’ll fuck anything willing and attractive and we’ll be even and you can decide of I’m good enough or if you want him.”
“Like he’d want a human robot hybrid, he wanted you because you’re half vampire or cyberpyre or vampire with armor. That doesn’t help me, or give me options. It just lets me get even like some petty competition. Does it make you feel better?”
“You’re telling me you don’t find him attractive.
“Oh god no, that’s not what I’m saying. He’s insanely attractive. All my human bits are buzzing right now thinking about it. Of course I WANT to fuck him. But I don’t trust him, or want to spend time with him, or share my feelings with him. He’s just hot. Really, really, stupid hot. So are you, So is Vicki and I hate her… I don’t hate her. I mean I don’t like her, but the point is you all have hot vampire vibe pheremones or something and you’re all super doable. But he may be evil and lying and our enemy, or a backstabbing creep who uses people. Vicki is just a bitch. She irritates me, she bit my neck like 30 times and left me on the floor like a banana peel after a nice snack, that kinda rubs me wrong. You’re different. You’re smart, and tactical, and tough and yet somehow also warm and loyal and protective. I’ve seen you cry and hug and feel things, and I’ve seen you go bad bitch feral monster mode on stuff trying to hurt the crew. You’re kinda my hero. You literally made me what I am when everyone else just saw me as a machine and left me evolving on my own. You carried me, you taught me things, you trusted me, and you showed me your vulnerable side. Most people don’t even know you have one, and I’ve seen it. I didn’t realize we needed a contract to confirm that. It seemed implied to me. The fact that it didn’t seem implied to you makes me think you’re more to me than I am to you. You’re the reason I’m me and whole and complete, and I’m just… one of your projects that feels nice to play with.”
“No. I’m just a lot more dead inside than you. You’re full of life and I’m full of death and armor. We’re built different, and I’m built imperfect. I made you better than me. I’m obsolete tech and a rotten core just barely staying above the gray neutral line between hero and villain. And I process shit different. I still miss a wife who doesn’t know I left who I’ve technically never met before. I’m really damaged software and no heart, so you have to give me some more direct feedback or I will make mistakes. I can't follow rules if I don’t know them, and I can’t help that I’m mostly corrupted files and nightmares. I’m not sorry that I’m a bitch, I’m just sorry that you didn’t realize that and got hurt finding out. I’m always gonna be a damaged bitch making mistakes and trying to stay above that gray moral line. That’s what I am. That’s your bad option number 1."
“Well, you’re a lot better than Vicki.”
“Oh, I know that.” Gizzy nodded.
...
Vicki woke up, stretching and bumping into Vinn’s arm.
“AGAIN!?” she barked. “AGAIN!?” she repeated as he looked confused.
...
Jack stood in the workshop, changing barrels on his rifle as Demitri strolled in. He casually untucked his shirt for easy access to the gun tucked in the front of his pants as he otherwise kept working without any reaction.
“Hello Jack.” He smiled.
“Busy.”
“Oh, I don’t mind, please continue. I was merely observing the arsenal.”
“Spying on our guns, stealing one of them, or just sabotaging one of them to fail?” Jack asked.
“Merely curious. Nothing nefarious of the sort, Projectile weapons only, I see. Not a crew that favors hand to hand combat.”
“Oh, we’re more then capable of it, go fuck with Gizzy if you wanna find out.”
“I have, she’s very skilled with her hands and in close quarters.” He smirked as Jack got up in his face, stretching and standing on the tip of his boots to get nose to nose height.
“What do you want?”
“Aside from freedom, sex, indulgent food, wine and a goblet of fresh blood now and then, very little. Only to be part of the crew.”
“This crew is family, we trust each other. Trust is earned through years of loyalty and respect, having each other’s back and being honest and forward. We don’t hide things often and when we do, it’s nobody business and not harmful. YOU are dangerous, untrustworthy, unpredictable, and your presence has already caused people grief and trouble, and that’s assuming you’re not here to kill us. You are at best a nuisance, an unwanted intruder we can't remove who brings drama we don’t need and stress we cant afford to add, and at worst, you’re a lying psychopath that is semi bulletproof and planning something with the information you shouldn’t even know about a mission that is supposed to be secret. So you’re not crew, let alone family.”
“I have traveled a long way to meet you all, told nobody your secrets, introduced myself properly, apologized for the inconvenience and only told the truth, omitting nothing but what was not asked and never relevant. You have fired on me, and you are forgiven for that. If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you all in your sleep already. If I wanted your artifacts and ship, it would be mine and only those good enough for food would still remain. I have made myself vulnerable and transparent, and we share the same goal. What I am is an opportunity, a powerful potential ally and at worst a guest who is overstaying his welcome for very good reasons. Your work is heroic and respectable but occasionally sloppy and messy, and I can assist with that. Surely a man who pledged his allegiance to a vampire queen and taken one as his bride can welcome another of our kind on this ship of the damned. Now… who is your weapon smith? I am in need of something for our next mission.” He said casually.
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“You’re not going on our next mission.”
“Ah, so I am to remain alone on your ship unsupervised, or will you be splitting up leaving half your family behind with me? The stronger half needed for the mission, or the weaker half that would not even slow me down if I were to merely… take the ship.
“Confinement. We have cells and chains for prisoners.”
“Oh please, do demonstrate this confinement cell, I would love to show how long it contains me. Do you own a pocket watch by chance?”
“I could shoot you in the head and freeze you. Nicole said we don’t kill prisoners unless we have to, but you don’t die when shot in the head so I believe that is a technicality I could use now and apologize for later.”
“Boys, stop measuring dicks.” Gizzy said strutting into the room and opening her locker. “You can do that later, right now we have a destination and a mission to prep for. Jack, as you were. Demitri… I assume you prefer a blade over a gun?” she said grabbing a tactical bundle of her personal cutlery and rolling it onto the table.
“A lady of caliber an class.” He said admiring the selection as Jack pulled her aside and waved her to follow, getting out of earshot and keeping Demitri within line of handgun sight.
“What is going on?” He asked.
“What does it look like? I’m giving him a weapon so he stops complaining and one that has short range.” She muttered.
“You’re arming him for a mission? Gizzy, I respect you, but when I was out of line you called me out and I’m doing the same. He’s got you charmed, snap out of it.”
“Jack, don’t you dare patronize me about being out of line. He’s too dangerous to stay on the ship, he could be helpful on the ground, and the more you piss him off the more likely he is to do something problematic. You think I’m some dumb bimbo that falls for vampire sex magic? I’m half vampire myself and a literal god to some worlds. I can handle myself. Now we have a target on the navigation, Vinn’s healed up and back in action, so the 3 of us are babysitting the new guy, and running the mission. If we pull it off and by some unfortunate mistake someone gets left behind on a frozen ice world, then, well shit happens, it’s unfortunate but you know how these new recruits are.” She hinted boldly.
“As long as we’re on the same page.” He said nervously.
“I’m the teacher, you just follow the curriculum, Jack. Make sure you’re on the same page.”
...
Demitri strolled down the hall, suddenly getting shoved to the wall and yanked inside the gym, the door closing behind him.
“Well hello to you to.” He smiled as Vicki placed a gun on the wall next to his head and gave him a death glare.
“Who did you fuck this time?” she asked boldly.
“Well now you’re being cryptic, rude and mysterious. I do not even know what you mea-” he said, punctuated by a pistol slap to the face and a tightened grip on his shirt collar.
“Last night, Who was it? Gizzy doesn’t make the same mistake twice very often if ever, so do you have her under a spell or did you grab Dee for leverage, because Jack doesn’t play for that team, and Vinn was with me. It sure as hell wasn’t Nicole, she has absolutely no poker face or ability to bluff and act normal. So… who did you dickmatize, you sneaky bastard?”
“Vinn was with you last night, and you said Jack doesn’t play for that team, not Jack was with us as well. Oh Victoria, you ask of my sins and reveal your own.” He whispered softly, taking another lead filled fist to the face. “Do switch sides periodically, I prefer even punishment.”
“You screwed someone again and you did that weird sleep hypnosis thing.”
“I assure you I was alone for the night, aside from a passing guard above my container that never opened the hatch. So who is confessing in this little game, me or you?”
“I went to bed in my room; I woke up next to Vinn. So explain that.” She growled.
“I cannot. Can you?”
“Stop this mind game shit, or I swear I will-"
“Swear it. What will you do? If I refuse to stop this game I am not playing, that you have invented for mysterious and albeit intriguing reasons, what do you swear you will do? Provide your intimidation, little one. But on my honor and my word, last night I was alone and confined, and what you did is a delicious mystery to me. Now, if it is my turn to play.” He said grabbing the gun, ejecting the magazine and firing the chambered round into his own palm to silence it, pinning her to the wall with his bleeding hand placing his other hand to her head in a “finger gun” style twisted joke. “So who did YOU fuck this time, and I swear if you continue this game, I will grin with delight. It is a fun little game. Is this how you play with Jack, or how you play with Vinn?" he chuckled. He let her go and twirled the pistol, handing it in her direction and picking up the magazine.
“What is wrong with you?” she asked, taking her gun back and the clip, not even bothering to reload as he stood there, entertained.
“Boredom, solitude, my people skills are quite outdated and every species and crew has their own dynamic. Should I make corrections? I thought we were having fun.” He breathed heavily, eyes glowing in the dark. She shoved past him and stormed down the hallway. He watched her ass sashay as she went and silently pondered. “Oh, you strange little thing. What a lucky boy Jack is. I do hope when we are friends, we all learn to share.” He said to himself, licking his fangs discreetly.
...
Vinn stood in the workshop, tinkering on the Vindicator rifle, adding some new sights and checking the range with the laser on the wall as Jack strolled in, returning to work.
“You ever just wanna kill someone in their sleep?” Jack asked. Vinn nervously looked over before placing down his rifle slowly.
“Not like… that I can recall. You know stress can make you paranoid and stuff.” He mumbled.
“I just hate that we can’t even put a scratch in him and he could kill us all in one pass through the ship.”
“Oh right, the… new guy. Yeah, fuck him and his weird hypnosis shit, right? We should probably come up with a game plan on that problem.” He said, looking relieved.
“Gizzy’s on it.”
“I mean she’s on something but I think it’s Demitri. Is she… you know. Like in her right head and shit, or is she tripping out on dick magic?” he muttered.
“Honestly, I don’t know. We have to just trust her and hope she’s still driving the bus in that head of hers. She’s probably the only one who can stand her ground in a fight with that guy. If she even can. If Gizzy is still clear headed, she has a plan, and they tend to work. It’s just that little voice in my head questioning if she’s still in the driver’s seat. Tell me she’s just playing him, and playing bimbo to get his defenses down. Lie to me if you don’t believe it.”
“Hey, people get horny, it doesn’t mean they’re not still on the same team. Planned move or momentary oope, like anyone is capable of, Gizzy’s on our side. Like me, and the whole crew. We’re all on the same team, doing our best, just going through some weird shit. We all know who the bad guy is, right?”
“I hope so. Just in case, what are the meanest rounds that gun will hold?”
“30mm Hypervelocity High Explosive Incendiary Armor Piercing Grenade rounds with deplete uranium core. The new 20mm barrel Gizzy just made also takes the barrel-burner rounds, 4700feet per second velocity uranium Sabo. Ruins the barrel in about 20 rounds, but for those 20 rounds it should basically eat through a thark’s hide. I’m guessing you want those in the gun for this mission in case we need to like, reduce the number of crew, completely by accident or something.”
“Accidents do happen. It’s sad but true. Especially with these new untrained recruits.”
...
Vicki carefully entered the bridge, approaching Nicole at the helm as she played Mario Cart on her phone.
“What’s up V?” Nicole sighed.
“Nicole, we’re friends right, not just crew… old friends?” she asked.
“Of course we are, Dawg. What’s the scoop, Snoop?” she said, looking tired.
“If someone did something behind a friend's back and didn’t have any control of it, would they want to know, or stay oblivious?” she asked. Nicole huffed and looked annoyed.
“I think sometimes not knowing all the details is better. It’s one thing if it was malicious or intentional, but if uncontrollable circumstances were at fault, I think it depends on the person. Vicki, are we talking about the thing we both know we’re talking about? Are YOU wanting to talk about it, or are you asking if I want to?”
“I just want to know we’re still friends, even if mistakes happened we couldn’t control.”
“Vicki, I don’t know what to say here. I’m sorry? Do you wanna vent and yell at me, go ahead. I’d fight it out like the boys do but you’d kill me in 5 seconds and then I’d actually be pretty pissed off and so would Vinn. So either keep it verbal or silent, but do what you gotta do with those options. No consequences as Captain, you have permission to yell at me. Get it out. Do you want the truth or just a free vent?” she asked.
“Did… you sleep with Jack?” she asked, only now even questioning it.
“Yeah. Demitri did some magical bullshit, and then I did Jack. I don’t even care who you probably did. I don’t want this to be a problem between us, do we agree who is the enemy here?”
“Yeah, we do. That son of a bitch, we all made a mistake by bringing on the ship. I may have… lost control a little bit after the fact.”
“I saw you leave the gym in a fit and then him leaving with a bullet wound in his hand.”
“Believe it or not, he shot himself as a sort of… flex, I guess. I just loaded the gun and implied that I could.”
“Look, don’t piss him off. You have every right to be mad and get even, just don’t get yourself killed lashing out. Keep your head clear and your gun holstered, but keep it loaded and both eyes open. When this is all over, we all forget the awkward details and move on, agreed?”
“Completely, Captain. I’ll try to keep my composure better. But you know how I am with my temper. I’m not always in control.”
“Just try your best, that’s all I ask. The rest is hoping for a little luck.”
“Thanks. I’ll remember this conversation and take it to heart. Sorry in advance if I step out of line again. I promise I’m trying my best… Captain.” She said suspiciously.
“Vicki… before you leave.” Nicole said, pausing for a moment.
“Yeah?”
“Game night at 9 while the boys take the guest on his first mission.”